Santa

Last night I took the girls to see Santa. We had tried this on the day after Thanksgiving and after waiting about a half hour and not being anywhere near the front of the line, we all agreed to leave. They have been begging me to go back ever since. Jeramy was at the church again last night, so I decided it was time to go back and face the line again. (And hit Bath and Body works, last day of $6 Wallflowers).

As we walked in the mall, I saw a family dressed in their Sunday best. I knew they were on their way to see Santa. I quickly pulled my three girls around their 3 girls and passed them up. We beat them. I heard some whisperings about "She totally went around us to get here first" behind me. Made for an awkward wait, but totally worth it. (We were not anywhere near Santa when I did it).

We waited for 30 minutes. 30 LONG minutes. The entire time Macie kept saying, "I will not sit on Santa." And the whole time I coached her on what she was to ask for...a camera, not a pillow pet.

The moment finally arrived. Macie latched onto my leg. Sweet Santa stood up, lined my 3 girls up and grabbed Macie's hands (before she could bolt). He stroked her cheek, he played with her hair, he whispered in her ear. He laughed with her. The look of utter amazement on her face brought tears to my eyes. Santa wasn't scary. Santa was a kind, old man who wasn't rushing my children through the line just to get to the next kid. (like the Santa on "The Christmas Story"). He did the same with each of my girls, and each one had that same amazed look. And this is when it gets a little sappy - for me - at least...we have a Christmas book that compares Santa to Christ. As my girls stood there with Santa, I couldn't help but think of how totally Christ-like this Santa really was. He loved my girls, and they felt loved. I can only imagine waiting in line to see Christ, then having him hold my child's hand, stroke their cheek and laugh with them. Wow. Kind of a powerful moment standing there in the mall with Santa.

So, thank you Santa, for being so kind! You rock. (If only you weren't charging $22 for a 5x7 and 2 3x5's, we'd be best friends for life).

Side story...after seeing Santa, we went to Bath and Body. I got what I was there for, then my kids saw the little tiny bottles of hand sanitizer. They all begged me to buy them each one, so I did. (It's the least I could do since they won't have a picture with Santa to remember our night by). They each stood and sniffed and switched about a million times until they all found a scent to their liking. On the way home, they each smelled and sanitized, smelled and sanitized, and then I finally had to put my foot down and only let them smell - before the alcohol ate through their hands. We stopped off to see Jer at the church and they ran in and told him all about...their hand sanitizer. He finally said, "What about Santa??" Then they remembered Santa. First thing this morning when they woke up, they each found their little bottle of sanitizer and had a good smell. Who knew how cool sanitizer could be??